This application claims priority to European Application No. 01201540.0 filed Apr. 26, 2001.
Not Applicable.
The invention involves a procedure for flame-cutting a parallelepiped slab using one or several oxycutting torches and a device for implementing this procedure.
Various oxycutting procedures are known to the trade, including, for example, the procedure described in the French Patent Application Number 2,746,686. In this procedure, the slab is placed edgewise on a series of feed rollers that carry it forward past an oxycutting torch between pairs of loose-mounted vertical rollers.
European Patent Application Number 00202767.0 dated Aug. 4, 2000, describes a procedure for flame-cutting slabs and a device for implementing this procedure. The slabs are slit or cut while lying horizontally or on edge and suspended by means of electromagnets located below the feed rollers.
These procedures and systems present certain drawbacks, such as the treatment of slabs having extreme dimensions (affecting stability when placed on edge) or slabs at high temperatures.
The purpose of the invention is to provide a procedure for flame-cutting slabs and a device for implementing this procedure that do not present these drawbacks.
According to the invention, this objective is met by means of a procedure for flame-cutting a slab using at least one oxycutting torch at a workstation, including a step in which the slab and the oxycutting torch are moved in relation to each other with the slab lying in a cutting position in such a way that its primary plane lies at an angle of xe2x88x9210xc2x0 to xe2x88x9220xc2x0 from the vertical plane.
For continuous operation, two workstations are envisioned on the line. At each workstation, the slab is in a cutting position and arranged in such a way that its primary plane lies at an angle of xe2x88x9210xc2x0 to xe2x88x9220xc2x0 with respect to the vertical plane. Each of the workstations is used for loading, flame-cutting and unloading a slab to be cut, and the two workstations are each used to flame-cut slabs in alternating order. Therefore, one of the workstations can be used to load the slab and the other can be used to unload the cut slab. An additional workstation can be included on the line between these two workstations in order to flame-cut the slab in its position at xe2x88x9210xc2x0 to xe2x88x9220xc2x0 from the vertical plane. The slab to be cut is loaded onto the loading workstation and carried from there to the aforementioned additional workstation, where it is subjected to the oxycutting procedure, and then moved to the unloading workstation where the cut slab is unloaded.
The slab can be slit or cut during oxycutting as the slab and the oxycutting torch are moved relative to each other.
The slabs can be loaded continuously in order to be carried past the oxycutting torch and then slit or cut depending on the direction of each slab""s movement with respect to the oxycutting torch.
According to the invention, the device for implementing the procedure incorporates at least one oxycutting torch for flame-cutting a slab by moving the slab and the oxycutting torch relative to each other, and a mechanism or frame for holding a slab to be cut such that the slab""s primary plane lies at an angle of xe2x88x9210xc2x0 to xe2x88x9220xc2x0 with respect to the vertical plane.
The aforementioned mechanism for holding a slab may include rollers placed in bracketed pairs so as to receive and hold the slab to be cut on its edge at an angle of xe2x88x9210xc2x0 to 20xc2x0 and to form an oblique base plane.
At least one pair of guides, capable of moving in unison along and atop this mechanism""s oblique base plane in order to hold a slab, can be included for the purpose of holding an oxycutting torch and its associated deburring device. The at least one pair of guides is placed in a desired cutting location along the lengthwise extension of a slab held by the mechanism, in order to hold the slab in place so that it can be flame-cut at the aforementioned desired cutting location.
For continuous oxycutting of slabs, the production line can also include a second workstation having mechanism or frame for holding a slab so that its primary plane forms this same angle of xe2x88x9210xc2x0 to xe2x88x9220xc2x0 with respect to the vertical plane; this second workstation mechanism for holding a slab also includes rollers placed in bracketed pairs so as to receive and hold the slab to be cut on its edge at an angle of xe2x88x9210xc2x0 to xe2x88x9220xc2x0 and to form a second oblique base plane. The aforementioned pair(s) of guides, which are capable of moving in unison along and atop the mechanism""s oblique base plane in order to hold a slab for the purpose of receiving one of the aforementioned oxycutting torch(es) and the deburring device(es) associated with the oxycutting torch(es) in a desired cutting position along the lengthwise extension of a slab held by this mechanism so that it can be flame-cut at the aforementioned desired cutting location, can be moved so as to be mounted on the second oblique base plane for the purpose of flame-cutting a slab loaded onto this second workstation mechanism, so that the slab can be held in place at the desired cutting location.
A third workstation can be placed on the line between the two workstations used to hold a slab. This additional workstation includes a series of rollers placed in bracketed pairs so as to receive a slab on its edge at an angle of xe2x88x9210xc2x0 to xe2x88x9220xc2x0 with respect to the vertical plane on a third oblique base plane formed by the series of rollers placed in bracketed pairs. The pair of guides can be moved in unison along and atop the aforementioned third oblique base plane. The rollers in the aforementioned pairs of rollers that receive the slab on its edge can be motorized so as to carry the slab from the first workstation for holding a slab to the third, oxycutting workstation and then to the second workstation mechanism for holding a slab, where the cut slab is unloaded.
These mechanisms or frames for holding a slab can be tipped in such a way that their oblique base plane is in a horizontal position, for the purpose of loading a slab or unloading a cut slab, respectively.
In an alternate embodiment of the invention, a device for flame-cutting slabs by means of at least one oxycutting torch can also include a feed area; an oxycutting area equipped with the aforementioned oxycutting torch(es) and an associated deburring device placed opposite to each cutting torch, with the slab lying in this oxycutting area with its primary plane in horizontal position between the aforementioned cutting torch(es) and the deburring device for each cutting torch; and a slab unloading area. The device could include mechanisms for transporting the slab from the feed area to the oxycutting area and then to the unloading area, and the oxycutting torch can be moved along a line that is perpendicular to the slab""s lengthwise extension, from one lengthwise edge of the slab to the opposite lengthwise edge, so that the slabs can be cut. Moreover, the oxycutting torch can be stopped at any point along this perpendicular line so that a slab to be flame-cut can be slit during the oxycutting procedure as it is moved in the direction of its lengthwise extension.
The feed area and/or the unloading area may include an elevating table that can be adjusted so that its base plane is even with the oxycutting area.
The oxycutting area can be made up of an adequate number of base rollers whose axis is perpendicular to the direction in which the slabs move from the feed area to the unloading area, so that they form a base plane. The aforementioned cutting torch(es) and the deburring device associated with the cutting torch(es) are arranged in the space between two neighboring base rollers and on either side of the base plane formed by the base rollers.
The mechanisms to be used to transport the slabs may include equipment to push the slabs in the feed area as well as motorized base rollers.
The device may include additional motorized base rollers on either side of the oxycutting area in order to form a set of transfer rollers, and the feed area and unloading area may be arranged laterally to this set of transfer rollers, while equipment for pushing the cut or slit slabs can be included in the unloading area.